Earlier this year, San Sebastian Film Festival Spain’s Basque Country, which runs from September 16 to 24, has invited Creast to help reduce emissions, according to Amaia Serrulla, who heads the festival’s sustainability efforts.
Creast’s team has already made recommendations, Serrulla said. This includes the festival working with local suppliers, using recyclable and reusable packaging, and implementing top-down LED lighting (rather than the unsustainable bottom-up). They also advised us to use less paper, so the festival prints and charges half the usual number of festival guides.
The festival, which is backed by a region that prides itself on its cuisine, balks at one of Christ’s team’s pieces of advice. “We have vegan and vegetarian options, but we have no plans to remove meat from the menu at this time.”
The global entertainment industry emits millions of tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to the Producers Guild of America, a trade association representing US television, film and new media producers. This is more than the aerospace, clothing, hotel or semiconductor industries, Guild said.
“Climate change is the most pressing global issue facing us today. March 2021 report by Sustainable Production Allianceis a consortium founded in 2010 that includes the world’s largest film, television and streaming companies. The report adds that the studio’s average carbon footprint for major productions is 3,370 tons, or 33 tons per day shot. About half of that is due to fuel consumption from air travel and utility bills.
British industry has similar problems. According to a report released by the British Film Institute and other organizations in 2020, on average major studio productions produced him 2,840 tons of carbon dioxide. This equates to 11 one-way trips to the Moon. According to the report, air travel alone generated emissions equivalent to 150 one-way flights from London to New York, or 3.4 million miles.